Beijing, 18th November 2025
China's newly developed Fujian aircraft carrier returned to port today, after PLA personnel conducted a training mission with the carrier-based strike group, following its diplomatic fallout with Japan, reportedly marking its "first maritime live-force training," after it was commissioned on Nov 5.
A home-designed vessel, the Fujian is China's third aircraft carrier, and its first indigenously developed carrier, and is right now the world's largest conventionally powered warship.
Displacing more than 80,000 tonnes and equipped with an advanced electromagnetic catapult system and arresting gear, the carrier is intended to mark a major leap in the PLA Navy's power-projection capabilities.
While participating in the training exercise, the Fujian, as per Beijing's state media CCTV, conducted multiple catapult launches and arrested landings with its ship-based aircraft, including the stealth fighter J-35, naval fighter J-15T, electronic warfare aircraft J-15DT, and early warning and control aircraft KJ-600, reports South China Morning Post.
The exercise was "a regular operational activity carried out in accordance with the annual plan," according to CCTV, and was allegedly aimed "to assess training outcomes and strengthen the armed forces' ability to protect China's sovereignty, security, and developmental interests".
Though CCTV did not specify the duration of Fujian's training mission, the exercise is widely seen as a key milestone before the carrier becomes fully operational.
Satellite images circulating on social media this week, however, showed the Fujian operating in the South China Sea, alongside the PLA Navy's second carrier vessel, the Shandong, marking Beijing's latest attempt to display its naval might, as part of its power projection campaign, underscoring its noted pressure and intimidation tactics.
The announcement comes amid Beijing's markedly high tensions with Tokyo, after the archipelago nation's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, addressing lawmakers on Nov 7, said that any hypothetical attempts by China to attack Taiwan would force Japan to use military force alongside the US military, as this would constitute a "survival-threatening situation," thus constitutionally justifying its use of force.
Expressing fury over the comments, Beijing sharply condemned Takaichi's remarks and summoned the Japanese ambassador in response.
Accusing Takaichi of "seriously damaging bilateral ties" and undermining the post-war order, China, since the diplomatic row has issued a travel advisory for Japan and cancelled a series of exchange events, further straining bilateral ties.
It also intensified its military rhetoric in parallel with its diplomatic offence, with China's Ministry of Defence warning Tokyo that any Japanese interference in Beijing's attempts at capturing Taiwan would result in Tokyo suffering "a complete failure before the steel-willed PLA."
The PLA Daily likewise published back-to-back commentaries cautioning that any intervention could turn "the whole of Japan into a battlefield."
China has long regarded Taiwan as an integral part of its territory, ever since the end of Imperial Japan's occupation after its defeat in WWII, and has vowed to achieve unification by force if necessary.
Japan, like most countries, does not officially recognise Taiwan as an independent state, though Takaichi's remarks have been interpreted as a significant shift away from Tokyo's previous strategic ambiguity.
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